It's Not Over, 'Til It's Over
by Ultrawoman
Summary: One-Shot. What if Flynn's plan to kill David Rittenhouse actually did bring down the whole organisation before it ever really began? Lucy/Flynn.


**A/N: I've never written fanfic for** _ **Timeless**_ **before and I'm not sure I should've tried now, but I've been rewatching it all recently and couldn't help myself. This idea sparked during 'The Capture of Benedict Arnold' and simply would not go away until I wrote it down. Also, shout out to** mountainrivergirl **who has written some truly wonderful Lucy/Flynn fics herself and, as far as I can tell, is just a really nice person too :)**

 _ **Disclaimer: All recognisable characters and any recognisable dialogue from Timeless belongs to Shawn Ryan, Eric Kripke, and other folks who aren't me.**_

It's Not Over, 'Til It's Over

It wasn't how she wanted it to end.

Lucy felt sick on the trip back to the present and it wasn't the force of being pulled back through time in the Mothership. It wasn't even because Flynn had all but kidnapped her. After all, she knew he would never really want to hurt her, he never had before.

Besides, it didn't really matter how they got back home, if the outcome was as they expected. Perhaps what was making Lucy feel so nauseous was the fact she couldn't really bring herself to believe they had changed anything. She wanted it to be true, wanted it so badly she could cry, but a part of her worried that Flynn had been right all along, that so long as they let the son live, Rittenhouse would yet prevail.

Trading one man's life for so many thousands of others did make sense, but that didn't mean it sat well with Lucy. When it came to David Rittenhouse she believed she could make her peace with his death if she had to, but there was no way, in any time or place, that she could stand by and watch a child be killed, no matter how great the cause.

Flynn didn't want to be that person. She saw it in his eyes so clearly. He hated what he had been driven to. Lucy didn't hate him, not anymore, if she ever really had, but in that moment, he truly despised his own actions, honourable as they could be seen by some.

Saving lives by ending others, one for thousands, two for the same. It was acceptable, maybe, when the person at gun's end was such a truly evil person, but the little boy, John, he was an innocent child, like Flynn's daughter had been. He had to live, consequences be damned.

As the Mothership came to land back at the warehouse where it had begun, Lucy opened her eyes and met Flynn's gaze. She wondered what it was she was seeing in his expression at first, the slightest smile, almost a warmth in his eyes. It had happened only once before, when he spoke of his fallen family. She knew that look. It was hope.

"Well," he said, glancing from her face to the door as he released his safety belt. "Let's see if you were right."

Lucy took a deep breath as she released herself from her harness too, following Flynn to the door and climbing out behind him. She didn't recognise this place, there was no reason why she should, but somehow, she expected there to be a sign, some clue that things were different.

Flynn was already sat at a desk, a laptop open in front of him. He hammered away on the keys and she immediately moved to stand at his shoulder. Before she had a chance to read a word on that screen, she was startled by the strangest burst of laughter from Flynn's lips. She tried in vain to focus on the screen but barely got a chance before he was on his feet before her, lifting her clear up off the ground and spinning circles.

She ought to be afraid. From the beginning, she had told herself she should fear Garcia Flynn, but she could never quite bring herself to do it. In this moment, he was as far from the monster some would call him as he ever had been, smiling and crying at the same time as he set her back on her feet.

"You are almost too smart for your own good, Lucy," he told her, shaking his head. "It worked. You were right."

"I was right?" she echoed, slipping from his grasp to rush to the computer.

The screen showed the evidence that Flynn had been hoping for all this time. Lorena and Iris, his wife and daughter, they were alive. Hope swelled in Lucy's chest and without a thought in her head she opened up a new tab and began typing just as fast as Flynn had done before. When she saw the truth, she froze. A squeal of something akin to delight and shock combined fell from her lips as she realised this was no trick, no mistake.

"Oh my God!" she gasped, looking up at Flynn now stood behind her. "She's... she's back."

"She's back," he echoed, his hand at her shoulder while she cried in joy and relief, staring at the screen that displayed the name and photograph of her sister, Amy.

They had done it, set time back to where it should be, defeated Rittenhouse. Lucy leapt up from the seat and reached for the man who had made it all possible.

They had their lives back, her and Flynn. Wyatt and Rufus too. Rittenhouse no longer existed. As far as the world was concerned, it never had existed, and those that they loved were back. Everything was finally as it should be, and yet...

"How?" she asked then, smile fading just a little as she looked up at Flynn in confusion, sinking back into the chair. "How did you...?"

"Rittenhouse never existed," he explained, shaking his head as he crouched down beside her. "They didn't come after me and my family, so I never made all those changes to history. The Hindenburg happened just like you remember from your history books, which means-"

"Which means my mom met my dad... Henry Wallace," she said, voice shaking with emotion. "Amy happened."

Flynn nodded in agreement, the two of them seemingly stuck in a strange moment for a few seconds more. This was it. The worst was over, the world had been set right. This whole adventure had come to an end, just when they had finally learnt to work together, just when he had saved everyone and everything.

"Thank you," said Lucy in a whisper. "For my sister."

"Thank you," he replied in kind. "For stopping me back there-"

"It's okay," she promised him, her hand on his arm without her even thinking about it. "It's all okay now," she reminded him, her smile returning in a moment.

"I think it's time we both went home," said Flynn then, smiling back at her, "to our families."

 _Eighteen Months Later..._

It wasn't as if she expected happily ever after to really last that long.

Lucy was no fool, she never had thought her life would suddenly be perfect when her adventures in time travel ended. She had her sister back and she was beyond grateful for the fact, but the consequence was that their mom was sick again.

The cancer was as bad as it had ever been, determined and incurable. Within six months, Carol Preston was dead, with two daughters left to mourn. Amy took it hard but Lucy took it harder. She never could explain to her sister the guilt that twisted in her gut.

There was no-one that could really understand, not even those she had time-travelled with so many times. Rufus and Wyatt got their lives back, just as they had been before. They didn't have to look at the choices they had made or question what they had done like she had. Only one could really understand her now.

"Hello, Lucy."

Her eyes closed at the sound of his voice, the smallest smile curving her lips, despite the day and the location. It was something akin to relief to know he was there, something inching towards gratitude and maybe even the tiniest bit of happiness.

"Hello, Garcia," she greeted him as he stepped up beside her.

"That's new," he noted, meaning the use of his given name, she was sure. "Friendly even."

"Well, if we can't be friends after everything," she said, glancing at him, "who else can we really turn to?"

He nodded his agreement, though his eyes were fixed straight ahead yet. Lucy followed his lead, her gaze returning to the headstone that bore her mother's name and picture. It had been a year, as the dates carved into the marble attested. It hurt just as much as it ever had.

"I'm so sorry, Lucy," he told her, almost as if he read her mind.

"It's not your fault," she assured him, sniffing back any further tears that threatened, because she had already cried quite enough today. "It would be too much to ask for my mother and my sister, I guess. Nobody can have everything they want. Well, except you," she said, smiling as she turned to look at him.

That expression crumbled quickly when she saw the pain etched on his face.

"You know, I dared to dream that we could make it work, Lorena and I," he said, swallowing hard, staring straight ahead still. "You stopped me going too far that last trip, but before?" he paused and shook his head, hand running over his face a moment. "I am too different. I changed too much, did too many terrible things and... and I can't even explain it to her," he explained. "Lorena tried, but in the end, it was not to be."

"You broke up?" said Lucy, feeling his pain more harshly than she ever could've expected. "I... I'm so sorry."

"It's alright," Flynn assured her, forcing a smile. "They are alive, at least. I see my daughter every week. My sweet Iris still loves her daddy."

It was clear that though he was beyond happy to have his little girl back in his life, it hurt him so much to be what he saw as unworthy of her love. Nobody could understand his situation, except Lucy. They were two of a kind, literally the only pair in the world that could fully comprehend what each other were going through.

Lucy didn't think, just slid her hand into Flynn's own, entwining their fingers.

 _Six months later..._

It wasn't how she ever pictured her life turning out.

Lucy couldn't imagine that anybody could possibly have projected the path her life would take, given the adventures in time travelling and all, but even she could not have guessed that she would be here right now, not based on how things had gone that first trip back in time. Still, she had to admit, she was very happy.

Amy was still giggling at her own joke when she got up to walk her boyfriend out and Lucy smiled watching the two of them together. She was still wearing that same expression when her own partner shifted closer to her on the couch, wrapping his arm around her shoulders.

"I was hoping they would go before too long," he told her, a whisper near her ear before he planted a kiss on her cheek. "I wanted a chance to give you your present."

"You already gave me a birthday gift," she noted, hand going to the necklace she wore.

"That was for show," he said, waving away her words, smiling in a strange way that she couldn't really make sense of until he suddenly deposited a box in her lap.

Maybe she should have guessed from the size and shape of the package, and more so who it was from, but it had been so long since they talked about the past. They both preferred to be in the present or even look to the future a little bit. When she prised the lid off the box, she could hardly believe her eyes.

"Your journal," she breathed.

"No, _your_ journal," he corrected her. "You wrote it, after all."

"You never did tell me how you got it in the first place," Lucy realised, looking up from the leather bound book in her hands and meeting his eyes.

"You gave it to me," he told her, smiling. "Some future version of yourself, I guess. I don't suppose it matters now. The point is now I am giving it back to you."

Lucy shook her head slowly, wondering at what he was telling her. A version of herself that now could never truly exist since they had changed time. It was incredible. It was only then that another thought occurred to her.

"Garcia," she said so softly he would never have heard if they weren't so close. "Does it...? Did you know, from this?" she asked, showing him the journal. "Did you know that you and I were...?"

"Fated? Destined?" he tried to fill in for her, smiling with amusement at the very idea. "No, the journal didn't tell me that," he told her honestly, "but I think a part of me always knew" he admitted, reaching out with his free hand to push her hair back behind her ear, "from the first moment I saw you."

Lucy slowly nodded.

"Yeah," she said, her hand at his cheek. "I think a part of me knew it too," she admitted, leaning in closer until their lips met in a sweet kiss.

The End


End file.
